The Trump Administration's Trade Deals So Far

On Wednesday, the latest trade deal of the U.S. with a foreign country to avoid high tariffs was announced. South Korea and the United States said that they only made an oral agreement due to time constraints lowering the Asian country's tariffs to 15 percent (from a threatened 25 percent), including on cars, and agreeing South Korea would invest in the U.S.

Previously, the United States and the European Union agreed on a deal that is lowering tariffs on European goods to 15 percent also. Taking into account exceptions, it is estimated that around 70 percent of EU imports to the U.S. will be affected by the new rate. The EU as part of the agreement is also investing an additional $600 billion in the U.S. and will purchase $750 billion worth of U.S. energy products. There has been no announcement of adjusted EU tariffs. As of the latest data, the EU only collects a levy on around a quarter of U.S. imports, the opposite of the new trade deal scenario, with the tariff rates on imports to the EU also lower.

Other deals struck with developed nations resemble the EU and South Korea agreements, showing two distinct themes for Trump's new trade deals that right now number only seven - a far cry from the dozens Trump announced should be closed before the August 4 deadline. Japan also agreed to big investments and purchases from the United States in exchange to a U.S. tariff rate lowered to 15 percent while keeping its import tariffs the same. A May deal also left the United Kingdom's import tariff rates intact while lowering U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium to zero and carving out an exception for the import of 100,000 British cars at a rate of 10 percent. As the country never received a higher, so-called reciprocal tariff announcement from the Trump administration, its overall additional tariff is the globally announced 10 percent, which also remained unchanged.

While these seems like a lopsided agreements, so are other deals that the U.S. has struck with foreign countries to avert August tariff deadlines. The agreements with Asian nations Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines stipulate not only higher-than-before U.S. tariffs, but also nearly unlimited open-market access for U.S. products imported into these nations, something that has garnered heavy criticism in the countries affected.